Payment & Payout Policy

This Payment & Payout Policy governs Student payments for paid 1:1 online mentorship sessions and mentor payouts on SarthiLink™. It applies alongside the Platform Terms, Student Terms, and Mentor Terms.

SarthiLink™ sets the session prices displayed on mentor listings. A Mentor selects a rate from the bands SarthiLink™ publishes and SarthiLink™ approves it before it appears. Prices may vary by mentor, duration, subject, availability, or offer. The amount payable by a Student is shown before payment confirmation.

You pay one price for the session, plus GST on it. SarthiLink™ sets that price, nothing further is added to it, and nothing beyond the price and the tax is itemised to you. The full amount is shown before you pay.

We do not round the amount you pay. The total is the exact sum of the price and the tax on it; if that comes to paise, the invoice shows the paise. There is no round-off line.

Tax is rounded to the nearest rupee because the law requires it. Section 170 of the CGST Act rounds the tax on an invoice to the nearest rupee — where it is charged as CGST and SGST each is rounded on its own, and where it is charged as IGST it is rounded once. This means the tax on the same price can differ by one rupee depending on which State you are in. That is the rounding rule working as written, not a charge we have added.

Student payments are collected upfront through our payment provider. A booking is confirmed only after successful payment authorisation and platform confirmation. Payment failures, pending transactions, or bank delays may prevent confirmation or may require support review.

SarthiLink™ does not store full card numbers, UPI credentials, card CVV, internet banking passwords, or similar sensitive payment authentication details. Such information is handled by our payment provider, banks, card networks, UPI providers, or other regulated payment ecosystem participants under their own terms and security controls.

Students and mentors may receive receipts, tax invoices, payout statements, or transaction summaries depending on the transaction type and information available. Users are responsible for ensuring that billing names, tax identifiers, addresses, and payout details submitted to SarthiLink™ are accurate and current.

Mentor payouts are the rate SarthiLink™ pays the mentor for eligible completed sessions, less taxes, refunds, reversals, chargebacks, adjustments, withholding, and other deductions permitted by the Mentor Terms. Payouts are made to the payout account provided by the mentor after completion of required onboarding and verification checks.

SarthiLink™ may process payouts on a periodic schedule rather than immediately after each session. Payouts may be held, delayed, offset, or adjusted for refund windows, Student complaints, no-show review, suspected fraud, tax or identity checks, chargebacks, payment gateway delays, bank failures, disputes, or legal compliance.

Refund eligibility is governed by the Refund & Cancellation Policy. If a refund, reversal, chargeback, or dispute is initiated, SarthiLink™ may recover the corresponding amount from future mentor payouts, hold unpaid amounts, or request repayment where legally and contractually permissible.

SarthiLink™ may deduct, collect, report, or withhold tax amounts where required by applicable law, payment partner requirements, or valid government directions. This may include tax deducted at source, GST-related reporting, or other statutory deductions depending on the mentor's status, transaction structure, and information provided.

Mentors are responsible for their own income tax, GST registration and filing where applicable, professional records, invoices, deductions, and compliance with Indian tax law. SarthiLink™ does not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. Mentors should consult qualified advisers for their individual circumstances.

Unless expressly stated otherwise, session prices, payments, refunds, and payouts are processed in Indian Rupees. Banks, payment partners, card networks, UPI systems, and regulators may impose limits, settlement timelines, security checks, or failures that are outside SarthiLink™'s direct control.

If a technical error, display error, duplicate charge, incorrect price or tax calculation, or payment gateway mismatch occurs, SarthiLink™ may correct the transaction, issue or request an adjustment, cancel the booking, or coordinate with our payment provider and affected users to reach a fair operational outcome.

SarthiLink™ may change published prices, mentor rates, payout schedules, tax handling, payment partners, or settlement processes with reasonable notice where required. Continued use of paid features after the effective date may be treated as acceptance of the updated payment terms.

Payment or payout questions may be sent to support@sarthilink.com. Formal grievance matters may be escalated to grievance@sarthilink.com under the Grievance Redressal Policy.